When Teddie Meronek was a child, her mother would let her walk by herself to the East End Superior Public Library to pick out her books.
“That was the most exciting thing, that I was allowed to go there and make my own choices about what I was going to bring home,” Meronek, who is a retired librarian and local historian, told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”
The library is one of two Carnegie libraries in Superior and was the last Carnegie library built in Wisconsin.
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There are 63 such libraries in Wisconsin and more than 2,500 around the world. Gilded Age steel magnate Andrew Carnegie was a strong believer in free public libraries — his philanthropy made free public libraries the standard.
Superior’s other Carnegie library, the Central Branch, happens to be the first Carnegie library built in the state. Green Bay and Sheboygan both received grants to build Carnegie libraries before Superior, but Superior finished building its library first.
“I guess we’re fast workers up here, maybe because of the cold,” Meronek said.
Both of Superior’s Carnegie library buildings are now for sale. The East End library, which became a private residence in 1992, is on the market for $375,000.
The Central Branch, which has been vacant since 1992, is in serious disrepair. The city purchased the building in 2022 and is seeking developers. But they have not publicly listed the property since they’re hoping to find someone who wants to maintain the original structure, Jeff Skrenes, planner and housing coordinator for Superior, told WPR.
Meronek became a librarian, and worked at both the East End and Central branches. Generations prior, her grandfather, who was a builder, made a bid on the East End contract, but lost by $17.
“I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if grandpa had built this place and I had ended up working there?’ But I kind of feel like his spirit was there anyway,” Meronek said.
Reflecting on what she hopes for the future of the long-vacant Central Branch, Meronek said, “The only thing I want is somebody to take care of it and love it as much as all of us who worked there did.”
